Oh, Misogyny

A couple of days ago, the Today show (the frustration helps me wake up in the morning) did a segment on whether sexism has been a factor in Hillary Clinton's impending defeat in the primary. They missed the point. They ignored all the violent, horrifying images and language that have been thrown at Clinton -- and, by proxy, at women like me -- and asked the stale, go-nowhere question: Is the country ready for a female president?

For answers, let's page through my campaign scrapbook.

Funny political cartoon about how Hillary Clinton is really a dude, and people in Kentucky are racist:



This is a double feature: Hillary Clinton is shrill (because she dares to speak publicly), and she's a psycho -- she hears voices in her head!


This one isn't as gross; it just doesn't make sense. Here is a photo of Clinton—because, hey, she's a woman—used to illustrate a story about mindless eating when the story doesn't even mention her. Also, what she's probably doing there, eating some famous pie at some diner on the campaign trail so as not to offend the locals, is actually the opposite of mindless.



This is horrifying on several levels. "I wish Hillary had been *murdered* by a black man, not just defeated by one in a presidential race" -- hiLARious! Oh yeah, and it's a T-shirt now.



This guy should be banned from CNN:



For more on the sexist punditocracy, see Eric Boehlert's collection of greatest hits on AlterNet here. Perhaps my fave: Tucker Carlson saying that when Clinton appears on TV, "I involuntarily cross my legs."

The awesome bloggers at Shakesville have been diligent about their "Hillary Sexism Watch". They're up to 100 incidents. Check it out.

This pro-Obama music video is horrifying on many levels:



If you still doubt, check out these clips (and ignore the Jeremiah Wright message at the end; I don't condone that):



The biggest problem with all of this is that mainstream journalists have said virtually nothing about any of it. My question: Why is this OK with people?